13 comments:

Certainly my preference is for this house to be well loved and meticulously maintained over the years. But given the state it is in, I wish they wouldn't demolish it but rather let it continue to return to nature on its own and document the progress. I think it would be fascinating.

This post, and your previous FSVS estate coverage, is like house porn to me, arousing irrational lust, inexplicable desire. I love Glen's idea of permitting these buildings a ceremonial death with dignity.

Unfortunately the US doesnt lke ruins and I presume the local fire dept and insurance carriers wouldnt be too agreeable either, but go to Europe and Asia and head out to the countryside and you will come upon ruins from any and all eras. Looming medeival castle walls in England, Ancient Greek and Roman towns half unexcavated sitting in open fields in Greece and Itlay, Abandoned Christian edifices in Turkey....they lend a provacative, mystical and incredible air of wonder to the landscape. No fences, no guardrails, no barricades whatsoever. The over abundance of law firms in the US and our need to blame someone else for anything that goes wrong in our own lives, have made such possiblities in the US impossible. I am surprised the developer did not take this down as soon as they purchased the property since i presume you could trespass tomorrow and sue when the roof caves in on your head.

It's a nice looking house and the decay certainly adds another level. In the old Cross & Cross floor plans this looks to be the original front entrance...I wonder why in 1930 they would decided to nearly triple this place in size?

Archibuff, when I was a child, lo these fifty or more years ago, Bar Harbor was still dotted with the ruins of estates that had burned in the forest fire of 1947--stone arches, massive gates, terraces and formal gardens (the chimneys and towers, however, had been knocked down for public safety). They were startling and stunning sights--in particular I remember the renaissance gateposts entering the forecourt of a grand Italian villa sited on a headland that reminded one of Greece---framing a view no longer of grand house, but instead a mountain beyond the terraced foundation---high drama. None of the ruins were stabilized for posterity---including the most elaborate, an estate owned by J.P. Morgan's son-in-law (in its ruined state, the site of many a teenage exploration and parties), and slowly they have all been either built upon or are nearly returned to nature. Here is a link to one, now with motel atop, once a house built for Richard Morris Hunt's sister-in-law, later owned by the McCormicks, and then the Morgenthaus. For years, the 30 foot high stone arches and ramparts were as evocative as a castle on the Rhine.

http://www.bedbreakfasthome.com/listing_images/12/6089_1.jpg

We are indeed a funny country. And getting ever stranger and more callous.

As to the question as to why the house was tripled in size, there are usually many personal reasons--family grew, needs increased, etc., but somewhere in there, the bottom line is 'because they could'.

Thnx Lodi. There is a semi-stabilized hospital ruin on Roosevelt Island in NYC, designed by James Renwick and Bannermans Island on the Hudson River contains castle-like ruins, but both structures are inadequately maintained and continue to deteriorate. I wish there was more imagination to utilize such places.

DED sounds like a great childhood. I would be out all day exploring if that was in my backyard. I am partial to Chatwold though. Can't wait for the book on the Gilded Age summer cottages of Maine and their short heyday and demise, but especially the chapter on searching for the remaining ruins. Now stop blogging and get back to writing.

I can not agree more with the comments on the incredible beauty of a ruined house and garden and the wish that the ruin be left alone to continue to deteriorate. Bernard Maybeck expressed the wish that his Palace of Fine Arts from the PanAmerican Fair in 1915 San Francisco be left alone to quietly crumble and be overgrown, but it was eventually completely rebuilt in the Fifties, I believe.

Since J.P. Morgan's son-in-law's place in Maine was alluded to, I thought I'd mention that his house (Herbert Livingston Satterlee's house, that is) on the Hudson was recently listed & sold. Built as a gift for Herbert and Louisa from Morgan Senior, the simple house was once quite charming. Nowadays it's crammed with tiny apartments, and recent owners' "renovations" have included removing all the original wood decks, disposing of the original railings and replacing their fancy turned balusters with sticks or pressure-treated redwood nailed to 2X4s, plus they covered the original clapboards with vinyl & added a few plastic shutters here and there. Sigh!http://www.trulia.com/property/3060138976--Highland-Falls-Two-Highland-Falls-NY-10928